Fodera

Fodera Electric Basses — Brooklyn's Finest, Since 1983

In 1983, master luthier Vinny Fodera and professional bassist Joey Lauricella set up a small workshop in Brooklyn, New York with a founding principle that has never changed: combine the perspective of a master craftsman with the perspective of a professional working player, and build instruments that no one else is building. Joey brought 10,000 hours of pro-playing experience. Vinny brought 10,000 hours at the bench. Together they built Fodera into one of the most coveted bass brands in the world, producing instruments that Sweetwater has described as starting at the level of most top-end custom shop models and only going up from there.

The butterfly inlaid into the headstock of every Fodera bass is not merely decorative. It is a statement of identity: these instruments are built to a standard that sets them apart from everything around them, and the players who have found them have stayed loyal with a devotion that says everything about what the instruments deliver.

Victor Wooten, who has played Fodera as his primary instrument throughout his career, is the most visible ambassador of the brand. Anthony Jackson, Marcus Miller, Oteil Burbridge, Richard Bona, Felix Pastorius, Lincoln Goines, James Genus, and Anthony Wellington have all made Fodera basses central to their sound. These are not casual endorsements. These are among the finest bass players alive, playing the instruments they believe in most completely.

The Brooklyn Standard

Every Fodera bass, whether a Standard Series production instrument or a fully bespoke custom commission, is built by the same team of luthiers in Brooklyn. There is no separate custom shop, no tiered quality control, no production line running alongside the hand-built work. The same hands, the same tonewoods, and the same obsessive attention to detail go into every instrument regardless of its position in the lineup. The difference between the Standard Series and a fully custom Fodera is not quality. It is the degree of individual specification.

Tonewoods are aged in Fodera's Brooklyn facility before being worked, allowing the cellular structure of the wood to stabilize and open up in ways that fresh-cut material cannot match. Pickups and electronics are proprietary designs developed in exclusive collaboration with the finest specialists in their field, built specifically for Fodera instruments and available nowhere else. The inlay work, whether a simple side dot or a full custom fretboard design, is executed by hand to a standard that no production facility can approach.

The Models

Monarch — The first Fodera model ever built and still the most popular instrument in the lineup. A double-cutaway design engineered for perfect balance and maximum comfort, the Monarch is the instrument Victor Wooten plays and the one most closely associated with the Fodera sound: warm, rich, extraordinarily balanced across all strings, with the dynamic range and tonal nuance that only a fully handbuilt instrument can deliver. Available in Standard Classic and fully custom configurations in four, five, and six-string variants, with an essentially unlimited range of tonewood combinations.

Emperor — A single-cutaway design that brings a more traditional aesthetic to the Fodera platform, with the same construction quality and tonal sophistication as the Monarch in a body shape that sits closer to the classic electric bass silhouette. Available with alder, ash, and exotic top configurations, multiple neck profiles, and the full range of Fodera pickup and electronics options.

Imperial and Imperial II — The most versatile model in the Fodera lineup, available in all scale lengths and wood and pickup combinations and built to accommodate the widest possible range of playing styles and musical contexts. The Imperial was born from a collaboration with New York session bassist Lincoln Schlieffer and has been played by Richard Bona, Lincoln Goines, and Anthony Wellington. The Imperial II, the most recent addition to the single-cutaway family, features sleek sweeping curves, a compact body profile, and a single pickup with coil blending control in four, five, and six-string versions.

Yin Yang — The most visually striking instrument in the Fodera catalog, co-designed with Victor Wooten and built around the contrasting light and dark tonewoods that give it its name. The Yin Yang is as much a work of visual art as it is a performance instrument, and the two are inseparable in the Fodera philosophy.

Standard Classic Series — The most accessible entry point into the Fodera world, built in Brooklyn by the same luthiers who build the fully custom instruments with the same tonewoods and the same quality control, in a more streamlined specification that brings the Fodera experience within reach of players who want legendary craftsmanship and playability without a multi-year custom build process.

The Custom Experience

The heart and soul of Fodera has always been the fully custom instrument, built from a detailed conversation about the player's musical needs, physical preferences, and aesthetic sensibilities, and developed into a commission that could not have been built for anyone else. Every specification variable, from body wood and top selection to neck profile, scale length, string spacing, pickup configuration, electronics, finish, and inlay design, is determined collaboratively between the player and the Fodera team. The process typically takes twelve to eighteen months from order to delivery, and the result is an instrument that players consistently describe as the last bass they will ever need.

Browse our full selection of Fodera electric basses, and reach out to discuss a custom commission or to find the right Standard Series instrument for your playing style.